


Fingerprints

by MJLightwood



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Day 7, M/M, OlivarryWeek2016, Soulmates AU, rated for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-11
Updated: 2016-06-11
Packaged: 2018-07-14 11:08:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7168604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MJLightwood/pseuds/MJLightwood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry was seven when his mother explained to him that the fingerprints that decorated her wrists were his father’s, that the first time your soulmate touched you, you’d feel the electricity coming off their touch as their fingerprints were etched into your skin forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fingerprints

**Author's Note:**

> This is for the last day of Olivarry Week, and what better way to end a great week than with angst? My language censorship has completely gone out the window, thus the rating, sorry guys. I saw this fingerprint concept somewhere on tumblr. Enjoy!

The realization hits Barry like a ton of bricks, all at once, crushing him beneath its weight because Barry can't seem to be able to keep himself up anymore as his knees buckle beneath him.

_I love him. I love him._

_I am in love with Oliver Queen_

_Fuck._

_Why?_

The answer is not that easy. He knows Oliver’s his soulmate, that he's bound to love him, destined to. But there’s also something about the way Oliver understands him like nobody ever will because he’s the Flash and Oliver’s the Arrow, or how fast Oliver picked up the phone when Barry called him after he got his speed, or simply the way Oliver smiles, his real smile, the one that reaches those beautiful blue eyes and _damn, you’ve really fallen for him haven’t you Barry?_

His fingers come up to the fingerprints decorating his neck, _Oliver’s_ fingerprints, as he curls up into a ball, hugging his knees.

Barry was seven when his mother explained to him that the fingerprints that decorated her wrists were his father’s, that the first time your soulmate touched you, you’d feel the electricity coming off their touch as their fingerprints were etched into your skin forever.

“Will it hurt?” he remembered asking his mother. She simply smiled and shook her head, assuring Barry that his one true love’s first touch wouldn’t hurt him at all.

“Just a tingle,” she’d said, lightly tickling Barry’s skin. Barry had laughed and the topic was dropped. He didn’t put much thought into soulmates, his parents were happy, and in his young mind that was what soulmates would be.

He's always imagined that his soulmate would love him back, that it'd all be normal, a simple life where he'd come back from the precinct everyday and hold his soulmate in his arms as he slept. He’d be happy with his soulmate, just like his parents were.

Instead his soulmate is the damn Arrow, and the very first thing he tries to do when he wakes up after Barry saved his damn life is strangle him.

Barry cries, because it's too much, he didn't ask for the one person he was sure would care for him to barely care for him at all. He cries because the pain in his chest fucking hurts like nothing he's ever known before. He cries as he feels his stomach twist and his body shake because the one person who was supposed to love him more than anyone else doesn't love him at all.

He cries because Oliver Queen’s blue eyes won't leave his mind, because those blue eyes constantly haunt him before he falls asleep, because they're all he can see behind his closed eyelids and _god_ how he wants those blue eyes to look at him the way he's sure he looks at Oliver, with so much admiration and daresay, _love_.

And he screams into a dark empty room, one of the many in Star Labs that he’s found in a desperate attempt to be alone, because _goddamnit_ the pain is too much, he thinks he feels those marks on his neck burn as he clutches at them desperately.

He remembers the moment Oliver’s hand curled around his neck, he remembers his first reaction was to grab desperately at Oliver’s hand, he remembers the fear that was immediately washed away by shock because feels fingerprints slowly burning into his neck. It's not unpleasant, it's tingling and Barry’s heart skips a beat.

It doesn’t hurt, just a tingle, like his mother said. But the pain in his heart now is more than he can bear, and goddamnit, it hurts so much.

He remembers Oliver’s eyes, wide with shock, releasing his hand immediately as Barry inhales, relieved that he can breathe again.

His eyes never left Oliver’s shocked blue ones, he placed his fingers over the new marks on his neck, a rather inconvenient place for marks but Barry didn’t think about that for a second. He didn’t know if he was relieved that Oliver’s also his soulmate, or if he’s crushed because Oliver Queen, who probably hates him even though he just saved his life, is most definitely his soulmate.

The validation is the thing that pulls Barry out of denial. He had already left his fingerprints on Oliver when he was looking for Oliver’s pulse. It was in the spur of the moment, Barry would’ve missed it if it weren’t for the undeniable tingle that shot through his fingers. He had pushed it to the back of his mind then because he was too busy saving Oliver’s life. He had let it push him to think faster because fuck, he can’t lose Oliver only moments after he finds out that Oliver is his soulmate.

He remembers the moments after he injects the rat poison and he’s sure that Oliver’s going to make it. He remembers taking a step back to run his fingers through his hair, staring at the fingerprints on Oliver’s wrist, _his_ fingerprints. Diggle and Felicity don’t say anything, he’s sure they’ve noticed but he’s grateful that they’re not mentioning it

Barry shakes himself out of his memories and turns to look at his reflection in the glass, he’s a mess, tears streaking his face, tears that just won’t stop coming and coming. He gingerly moves his fingers and looks at the marks decorating his neck, the marks that constantly validate the fact that yes, Oliver Queen is his soulmate.

He feels a multitude of things, anger, heartbreak, despair. And all those feelings had exploded when Roy Bivolo messed with him. He just couldn’t hold it in anymore, and god does he regret it. But most of all, he regrets shouting at Oliver, he regrets letting all the feelings he’d kept bottled up from Oliver for so long out because _dammit_ , Oliver wasn’t supposed to know, Oliver was never supposed to find out how much Barry loved him and how much it fucking hurt and tormented Barry each day to know that his soulmate didn’t love him back.

He remembers Oliver’s eyes finally shifting away from him after his realization, how it knocks Barry back into reality as he realizes Felicity’s shouting and Diggle has leaped into action.

He remembers the moment Felicity’s voice drops, but it’s still as fierce as it was before as she lifts Oliver’s left hand for Oliver to see the fingerprints. “Look,” she tells Oliver. And Oliver looks, and if he feels anything it doesn't show on his face as he examines the fingerprints on his own wrist, left there by Barry when taking he was taking Oliver’s pulse.

Felicity explains everything, Barry’s eyes don't leave Oliver, who shows no emotion. They do talk about it afterwards, the memory is a painful one, and even though Barry constantly reminds himself not to think about it, he thinks about it now, he replays the memory again and again in his head because where did he go wrong?

Was it the fact that he brought it up with Oliver in the first place? Was it when he let Oliver place his fingers over the fingerprints that decorated his neck? He remembers the crack of vulnerability in Oliver’s eyes as he tells Barry to go back to Central City, because everyone Oliver touches winds up dead or broken. Barry remembers just staring at Oliver blankly, trying to stop himself from crying as he nods, plastering a smile that’s way too fake on his face.

Barry left Starling with a heavy heart, knowing fully well that a mask was not going to make Oliver instantly fall for him but leaving it behind anyway.

He also knew that he was already falling for Oliver, and deep down he knew that leaving Starling was basically running away from any chance he had with Oliver. He leaves anyway.

He remembers the first time he sees Oliver after he woke up, he remembers his heart beating faster than it ever did and he lets himself get his hopes up. After all, Oliver agreed to see him. But they’re instantly crushed because Oliver doesn’t bring up the fact that they’re soulmates at all, and deep down he was hoping that nine months would change Oliver’s mind. He runs back to Central City again, both broken and whole at the same time.

The sound of footsteps shakes Barry out of his memories. Barry lifts his head, green eyes meeting Oliver’s blue ones, and in that moment, the fastest man alive freezes, completely aware that he’s a mess but it’s _Oliver_ and he doesn’t know what to do.

Oliver doesn’t move from his spot a few steps in front of Barry. “Barry,” he hears Oliver say even though the other man’s voice is barely a whisper.

“How did you find me?” Barry chokes out, trying to hide the fact that he’s crying even though he knows it’s pointless.

“I just- I just knew,” Oliver answers. Barry stares at him, Oliver moves to kneel in front of Barry, his movements careful, like he’s afraid that Barry’s going to run off if he scares him. “I felt it, just like I did when you were struck by lightning,” Oliver’s voice is steady. Barry’s eyes widen in shock at Oliver’s confession.

“I didn’t know you were hurting so much,” Oliver whispers even though they’re both alone in a dark room where no one else can hear them. He gingerly lifts a hand to Barry’s face, wiping away Barry’s tears.

It is then when Barry’s powers and senses suddenly decide to kick in. He speeds to the other side of the room. “I don’t need your pity, Oliver,” he spits, trying to hide his sadness behind a wall of anger.

“I’m sorry, Barry, I’m sorry,” Oliver says, and Barry’s tears start falling again. “I’m sorry you have me as your soulmate, you deserve better, you deserve so much more, Barry.”

“Oliver, please- please stop,” Barry stumbles on his words, feeling the lump in his throat return.

Oliver stops speaking, and Barry feels himself break all over again. _Goddamnit_ , why was he so in love with this man? But he can’t find it in himself to run away this time.

Instead he runs forward to meet Oliver, he reminds himself that he’ll probably regret this later but he can’t find it in himself to care as his lips meet Oliver’s. He just wants to feel Oliver’s lips on his at least once in his sad and sorry life, wants to feel his soulmate’s lips on his, the feeling so many people described as amazing and mindblowing before Oliver left once and for all.

He felt Oliver’s hands on his waist, and that’s when he knew he’d stayed too long, too caught up in the feeling of Oliver’s lips against his to run away.

But then Oliver kisses him back, and he feels his knees buckles, thankful that Oliver’s hands are holding him up. He feels tears rolling down his cheeks and he can’t bring himself to pull away because it _is_ amazing and mindblowing, and he doesn’t want to pull himself away from his soulmate. He pretends that maybe, just _maybe_ Oliver loves him back just as a soulmate should and that this is a goodbye kiss before Barry runs into the field to fight the latest baddie.

Then he pulls away, and Oliver’s bruising grip on his hips is the only thing that’s convincing him not to run far far away from the man that he fell so hard for. From his _soulmate_.

“I’m sorry,” Barry says. He doesn’t open his eyes, scared of what he may find when he does. He feels Oliver place his fingers over the fingerprints on his neck, feels the slightest tingle at the touch and shivers.

“Barry, my soulmate,” Oliver says softly.

Barry forces himself to open his eyes, surprised to find Oliver crying, blue eyes completely vulnerable. “I just can’t keep myself away from you, I told myself over and over that I would only hurt you, the fingerprints on your neck are there to prove it. And now look at you, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Barry.”

_What have we done to each other?_   Barry thinks.

Oliver’s hands drop to his sides awkwardly before he decides to pocket them. But Barry’s faster as he reaches for Oliver’s left wrist, lets his fingers rest over the fingerprints on Oliver’s skin.

Barry takes a deep breath. “Don’t leave, please,” he says. _I don’t think I could take it. I’ve been falling for you ever since I first saw you, don’t leave me, not after everything you said._

“Can we just try this, Oliver?” Barry asks, his eyes break away from Oliver’s to look at the floor, his heart pounding in his chest.

“Are you sure?” is Oliver’s response. Barry’s eyes drift upwards again, meeting those blue eyes, a genuine smile crossing his face.

“Yes,” he replies simply, letting his hopes soar. “I could run over every other night to Starling to meet you, please, Oliver, I just want to try.” _We could work_ , Barry thinks. They _are_ soulmates after all.

Oliver doesn’t say anything as his hand reaches up to cup Barry’s cheek. Barry can see the gears turning in Oliver’s head, weighing the risks and considering all the possibilities. “Can I kiss you?” Oliver asks, surprising Barry. Barry gives him the slightest of nods before Oliver’s lips are on his again.

Their previous kiss was full of passion and bottled up feelings, this one is sweeter, gentler, one that’s more hopeful and it leaves a warm feeling in Barry when they pull away, foreheads touching.

“I don’t deserve this Barry, I don’t deserve your forgiveness,” Oliver says.

“Then earn it.”

Barry looks at Oliver with hopeful eyes as the pain in his chest and the twisting feeling in his gut are replaced with tingling butterflies of nervousness and hope.

“Okay,” Oliver says, and Barry feels his heart slowly mend itself. They could work out, they could be happy just like Barry always thought he would be with his soulmate. They stay silent for a moment, Oliver’s hand brushing away Barry’s tears as they both let what just happened sink in.

“You should get some sleep, it’s been an exhausting day,” Oliver says. Barry slips his hand into Oliver’s, pleased to find that their hands fitted together so perfectly. He shoots Oliver a smile and Oliver smiles back, one that reaches his eyes. Barry’s heart skips a beat when he realizes the look Oliver’s giving him is so full of love, so grateful, so full of admiration, like he can’t believe Barry’s in front of him.

And Oliver can’t, he can’t believe how he ever go so lucky and how he could’ve ever hurt Barry so much. He feels a crushing weight being lifted off his shoulders as he walks hand in hand with Barry to his motorbike.

And both their hearts are finally at peace as Oliver rides his motorbike past quiet streets, feeling Barry’s arms around his waist.

It feels infinitely _right_.

They _are_ soulmates after all, aren't they?


End file.
